“We’re five years old now,” Steve recalled. “We bought a 12-barrel plant second hand when we started and we thought that would last forever.

“We started with just myself and my wife Rose and there are now seven of us. And we got to the point where the old plant was...we just couldn’t brew fast enough.

“So now we’ve doubled our capacity, with a 25-30 barrel plant, and it’s great – lovely new shiny tanks.”

The number of breweries in the North West is growing steadily, which is good news for Peerless and its rivals.

“The market seems to be able to absorb it,” Steve said. “We’re brewing three or four times what we brewed five years ago. So far, so good. And it continues to grow.”

Roger agreed, saying: “It’s so exciting to see all the amazing things going on in this country with breweries getting bigger, expanding, producing ever more wonderful beer.”

And Steve is proud Peerless is helping to keep Wirral on the real ale map.

“We’ve won lots of awards,” he said. “Our Knee Buckler won gold, our Peerless Pale won gold, RIOT stout has won medals, so we’ve had a great time – and it shows brewing on Wirral is alive and kicking.”